The Dow had an up day, even better than yesterday, hitting another new high, best it’s been in two years.

Stocks finished higher Wednesday as the market continued on pace for its best December in nearly twenty years…

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed 9.84 points higher, or 0.1 percent, to 11,585.38. The S&P 500 rose 1.27, or 0.1 percent, to 1,259.78. The technology-focused Nasdaq gained 4.05, or nearly 0.2 percent, to 2,666.93.

However, I did not. Been raining all day and that is a mood buster. Sucks. Oh, and the Dow’s high won’t last. It will go down. Think housing market.

I’ve been doing laundry all day as a favor to my daughter as her daughter peed her bed. This time it wasn’t Meowza. Yeah, really lovely day.

Only fun has been watching the bf playing Mario still. It’s a big game, big, fast and intense.

Friends are especially nice on a day like this. Beth gave me a disco ball tree which brightened my overall dismal day. Actually, I nabbed a few trees from her too, been productive that way.

Family is nice too, Jill cooked a lovely dinner which I really enjoyed.

Got to enjoy the little things in life.

Out of this sig in one of the FarmVille forums.

Farmville has been enhanced! New features include lost gifts, vanishing neighbors, and slow loading. Refresh page to be locked out of your farm indefinitely.

His comments are spot on too.

Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas.

Here, the day was spent opening gifts and playing. Hardly the Christ centered holiday but then all I’ve done is go to parties including one last night.

I’ll have pics up after my grandchild goes to bed, babysitting yet again while her parents go out. Dad got mom some awesome shoes so she just had to go out.

Kid is playing with her new toys, they were a hit.

As was finally setting up the Wii so dad could play Super Mario Galaxy 2 which I gave Rae for her birthday and which I doubt she will play for a while. He’s a whiz at games. I used to be but am rusty. I do have my own avatar for the Wii so I may yet play.

I think I’m getting old when I think FarmVille is more my speed. Speaking of which, in the mail was this tidbit from the creator of one of the tips books for the games, natch.

But yeah, I’d just like to let you know, that right now there’s already 62 million players for Cityville and as of today, has already officially overtaken Farmville as Facebook’s number one game.

I’ve seen some really beautiful farms which is the pleasure I take in that game but so far I am less enamored of CityVille. I even like FishVille more, like pretty fish.

As for the cats, they are waiting on the grandchild leaving to really celebrate. She still freaks Meowza out.

And all I have is this picture of Meowza outside where there isn’t a bit of snow. Even had a little bit of sun today which has been a refreshing change from all the cloudy, drizzly days we have been getting from Nikita’s neck of the woods. Btw, Nikita is hosting both the last carnival of the year and the first carnival of next year. As well as hosting a lot. Let’s hear it for Nikita.

We still need hosts for Carnival of the Cats for next year. Contact me if you can host.

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos and Weekend Cat Blogging are no more due to lack of participation which included some of the hosts, no shows. The last BKCFoC is here, no surprise. There are still two more WCB editions then it’s bye bye to that one. Next one is #290 Dec 24-26 Christmas Edition: Jules and Vincent at Judi’s Mind Over Matter. Enjoy and let the kitties celebrate the holidays with submissions. And catnip, treats and toys.

This article in WND got my interest cause of it’s subject matter. One Steve Jobs and the heavy handed way he runs the App Store. Apparently only approved by Steve content can be downloaded. That means anti-Mormon movies are fine with him and pro life and pro family content is not.

“Apple lets you download an app for a movie that attacks a religious minority for supporting Prop 8, but a judicious statement of principle by major religious leader is banned? It’s an outrage. That’s one bad Apple,” said Brown.

He was referring to the statement titled “8: The Mormon Proposition,” about California’s war over Proposition 8, through which voters defined marriage as being only between one man and one woman. The measure has been in the courts ever since voters approved it.

My desire for an iPhone has diminished considerably. Google isn’t much better, being as it’s PC to the extreme so an Android phone doesn’t carry much interest either. And that leaves Windows phones, hmm. I think Gates is a liberal too. Sides which I have a Mac. Guess I’ll keep my own phone til it dies or I cancel my cell service whichever happens first.

If you support the Christian values this country was founded on, check out the National Organization for Marriage. Or write Steve.

It’s funny that the only tolerance the Liberals have is for their own values and no one else’s.

Coming January 1, my monthly premiums go up substantially.

My copays go up for nearly everything, most 20%, some as much as 50%. Only thing that is less is chiropractic services, probably a typo.

Drug cost more too and there’s no cushion during the coverage gap like was stated.

And I dare not change plans cause the CPAP machine is a rental and it would be a pain to get it reauthorized under another plan.

Sucks.

Hope they repeal or defund the monstrosity.

They lied when they said it would make healthcare more afforadble.

This morning I walked in the living room and found the front door wide open. Room was a bit on the cold side. And no grandchild who had fallen asleep night before on the sofa. Found her in bed with Jill. Seems the child opened it looking for her. Luckily nothing was stolen.

I reminded Jill about the child safety latch. Use it so she doesn’t do that again.

She is into everything too, needs constant watching. Can’t even trust her to go potty by herself as she dumped a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet other day, all tore up into nice little bits. Not the first time either. Luckily we keep the plunger handy.

Is it any wonder after sixteen hours a day babysitting, I’m too tired to do anything useful?

One Meowza for Caturday, finally! Sorry no snow here, not even wintery looking except for maybe the white in Meowza’s coat. What isn’t dirty brown that is.

BKCFoC CB CotC Cat ARK FCF FF MM TT TT WCB WW WoW

Got to see it to believe it. Note the pics emailed to me. Got a little movie on the site showing it in action. If I had an iPad, I might be tempted to let the kitties have at it when not playing FarmVille. Meowza in particular would enjoy that. Hiccup has two games, one involving a laser pointer and one involving a mouse. Here the cats play with the laser pointer.

And here’s the mousie game.

Almost enough to make me want an iPad. I don’t use my laptop enough to justify another toy. The iPhone exclusives in FarmVille are tempting too if they can be got on the iPad.

Burning question: wonder how the screen holds up to kitty claws.

Update: Got the answer, very well however if you’re worried, a Zagg invisible shield works well says Nate, the game creator.

I finally did some chores around here, deleting spam. I was surprised to find I had been spammed in Arabic. Language is installed on the computer is how I found out.

Suppose since I have Arabic friends on Facebook it was only a matter of time. Of course, that may not have anything to do with my getting spammed but one never knows. I have little of interest here for Arabic speaking people that don’t play games on Facebook.

Which is why I have Arabic speaking friends. It’s amazing who plays FishVille and FarmVille.

My Christmas shopping is done both IRL and on the farm. Made room for more winter items cause they were just so cute. Duck swims on the pond. Bear pops out of the cave. I am a sucker for stuff like that.

And I won a trophy for spending a 11,482,000 coins in FishVille, still have over 60,000,000. Game gives lots of coins, stingy in sand dollars thou. Anyway, the tank is now full of kelp and other goodies.

Now if I’d just upload the pics of Meowza I took the other day, life would be almost perfect.

I still have to fully decorate tank 9, yes I actually have 9 now. They allowed that.

Is up and presents are under the tree.

And the farm is decorated, mostly. Still growing crops so no room for more. Look closely and you’ll note a poor little seedling desperately in need of watering cans.

I’ve got presents which can’t be opened until Dec 25 although FarmVille avoids any reference to Christmas. Silly game.

What, you expected me to show my home? That’s not decorated. I did good to get it clean for the CPAP delivery yesterday what with a four year old running around messing it up.

Now the city avoids the holidays altogether. In it’s defense, game is new. Only been out since Dec 2 and I just started playing it a few days ago. Yes, another game.

Not to mention the game can’t be played in Camino, had to switch to Safari. Tech support was speedy and helpful, thanks Zynga.

Got my CPAP today finally and tonight I’ll get to sleep with it. Also got a voice mail from my doc informing me that the sleep study results were in. Will get the results when I connect with the doc. Voice mail tag, gotta love it. Of course, I do have a clue seeing as I have the machine. Rep for the company suggested I get a printout of the results for my records, good idea. She also gave me a hint what was in it saying I had around 28 episodes of apnea in an hour. She did a good job explaining stuff to me thou I wasn’t exactly clueless. I had read up on the machines.

And now for the bad news, I’m in for lots more babysitting. When will I have time to sleep? Child tends to stay up late, too late. I put her to bed and have to wait up to see if she goes to sleep which doesn’t always happen. It’s always something.

Is here and Meowza is hosting. Finally. No new pics thou, Mog’s a slowpoke.

Hakuna is a real dynamo, good thing the camera has a fast shutter speed. Links to a wallpaper sized photo, good thing too as this cat’s a real beauty. No offense Ritzi.

On a more serious note, how to decide whether or not to pet er have one. Cats are best IMHO both for petting and to have as a pet.

Fabulous, even more reasons to own a cat. Kudos to the kitty monster. Wonder how she got that shot. Still, more wallpaper. Mog is obsessive about claiming kitty wallpaper.

Nikita sets out on a seven hour stroll, that’s right. Seven hours. OK, so he didn’t have to walk it all, being in a stroller and a *ahem* bus. Follow the links for a whale of a tale.

Nikita did Secret Paws, an always fun event I missed due to Mog’s not driving and all. Hard for her to shop for me.

T.G.I.F. doesn’t stand for what you think it does, way better. Go check out Cloon and Neytiri.

Desaturated, Luna is lovely. Even saturated she’s a looker.

Mom Ritzi on the other hand…

Aw, she’s a looker too. Just she’s a grumpus.

That’s all for now. Next week’s host is When Cats Attack! Submit here or email your cats to carnivalofthecats(at)gmail.com.

Technorati tags: carnival of the cats, CotC, cat

Are nice, parties, dinners, luncheons all filled with yummy food. I’ve been partying since Thanksgiving.

Christmas is the best thou and not just for the parties. For the fact Christ was born. That has been the pivotal event in the history of mankind without which his atonement and resurrection would not have been possible. Without which life would have no meaning.

However, I take exception to the pcing of our traditions. It is a Christmas tree not a Holiday tree, Zynga.

Into everything even my room, hanging around my neck while I was at the computer, commenting, “That’s cute,” about FarmVille. She knew right away it was a video game. Smart kid. Too bad it’s such a boring game, not exactly fun for a child to watch.

I couldn’t exactly type while she was there seeing as she tried to too. One wrong stroke and who knows what damage she could do.

She even grabbed my empty Autoject 2 and pretended to give me a shot. And she’s never actually seen me do that either.

I give her some credit for mostly leaving Meowza alone while he ate. Poor cat was so hungry for his favorite canned kitty food, he didn’t run away when she was in the room like he usually does. Didn’t finish it thou. I did say mostly and he ran when he had enough.

She’s still wound up, a total wild child but mom is home from work. It’s her turn.

Only another few days and I get a break, one reason I don’t blog as much as I used to. Babysitting sixteen hours a day is hard.

Hopefully, I’ll get plenty of time to do Carnival of the Cats so send in your entries. I’ll put in a plug for hosts too. We need kitties and their humans to host next year. Let me know if you can host, thanks.

I’ve been remiss in taking pics but when it snowed today, I just had to share.

So it’s the farm. It’s been like 78°out here so no snow in Gilbert. Got to take the snow where I can find it.

And for those that haven’t finished the quest to add the snow, it doesn’t just add it all over when you finish it. You get the option to decide where to put it, one tree, one section of fence, one building at a time. They all don’t have that option either. Kindof like spookifying your neighbors farm except you get more than five cracks at it.

Getting the ball rolling here fairly early in the day for me. Leave your link in the comments and you’ll be added, thanks.

Christmas cards from the past, fond memories all Samantha, Clementine and Maverick. And Tigger, we miss you.

This cat’s aced the Iron Man competition, deserves a rest.

Luna is also enjoying a break, this one from the remodeling. May it be done soon so the kitty can stay home.

Nikita’s daddy took lots of pics of a kitty not him. Hope his nose isn’t out of joint.

Nikita, ever the prodigious writer, expounds on his past exploits as a blogger complete with stats. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Patchouli gets her turn in the spotlight, looking very beautiful. She reminds me a bit of Cece, both gorgeous cats.

Next week’s host is Salome at Paulchens FoodBlog?! stepping in for Breadchick and LB at The Sour Dough.

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos and Carnival of the Cats is at Kashim & Othello and Salome.

Technorati tags: weekend cat blogging, WCB, cat

Done rearranging for now and even have room for more stuff, big green space there. Kindof sparse on the trees thou since I put most of them in orchards. One can squeeze in a lot of trees doing that. Makes room for all the new trees I can grow. Yes, one has to grow the seedlings. Just need watering cans, lots. New feature or is it frustration. And then there’s tree mastery, they added that too. Guess they have to keep the game fresh, always adding stuff so we don’t all get bored.

And it couldn’t be a more beautiful day, a sunny 73° out. Why even Glenn Beck and his prognostications of gloom and doom for our republic didn’t spoil the day. It should have but didn’t.

His news that the FCC is poised to enact net neutrality without Congressional approval was the one dark cloud in the sky. Guess we’re now supposed to link to the other side’s opinions or get shut down, something like that. Google it if you’re interested. They favor the other side, nothing but positive links on net neutrality there.

But the sun came out again with the news that the food safety bill could run into problems. That warms my heart as that bill is heartless, would devastate small farmers and raise food costs. Government doesn’t need to run everything.

New kelp forest theme, redecorated my main tank, all nice and green.

And not so green, we even got a bit of snow. On the frontier that is, not in sunny Arizona thou it is cold here.

Grew the farm too but as I am not done rearranging stuff, no pics there. It was a matter of expand or face the message every time I farmed. None to subtle them.

I’m easily amused.

There was the shopping. I actually got to shop for my grandchild’s birthday present. Wonder if I’ll ever get used to being chauffeured around?

And then there was the party which this year took place at a bowling alley cause kid loves to bowl so her mommy said. She was more interested in the arcade games especially the driving ones. One thing we share in common, neither of us can drive. Being four is a more valid reason thou.

And the babysitting. Something about me doing the honors and getting to get her toys out of their boxes which is quite the challenge seeing as they make it so the toys can’t get ripped out. Major undertaking.

And then, when I thought she was asleep, there was a knock at my bedroom door. I opened it only to discover it was Ritzi. Resourceful cat! Now if only I’d let her in. Fat chance, would be my luck cat would probably pee on something.

And then there is the Carnival of the Cats. Nikita and Elvira put together a very informative carnival, history of it and all.

Plus a plug for hosts. Must not forget we need hosts. Nikita has volunteered to do twenty of them next year which is a lot. Only begging for kitties to do just one each.

Nikita reminded us I’ve been doing this for two years now, managing the carnival. Actually I’ve also hosted the carnival site, tech support person too.

So the turkey didn’t get cooked til today. I wasn’t the least bit surprised. I knew when they brought home a frozen turkey yesterday afternoon shortly after three, it wouldn’t be ready in time.

And I got to turkeysit the turkey in the oven in addition to babysit while they braved the Black Friday crowd at the store. Not sure who had the most fun thou I do miss shopping. Already!

Anyway, the dinner was delicious. Jill made an awesome stuffing, her first try making it. Don’t think she followed the recipe in the cookbook too close either. I told her she could do it again next year.

And there was turkey for the kitties too. They liked that.

It is Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I am deeply thankful for the wonderful friends I have, which friends had me over for a lovely, very delicious and filling meal. Good food, good conversation not on my part as I usually have little to say. Not much exciting in my life that’s worth sharing. It is a day for thanks after all.

Oh, and Jill’s cooking dinner too so there will be more than one feast. Plus a pie party later. I will be full.

My thoughts on the holiday have changed little from last year. Still thankful foremost for my Savior.

Freedom is iffy, they’ve done about destroyed what little we had left. Obama’s not done yet by a long shot. Next month will be telling, lame-duck Congress and all.

After living alone for a number of years, having family live with me has been a strain so not quite so thankful there.

I am trying to simplify my life so as to be less stressed. Two household’s stuff in one house is very confining. As is my not being allowed to drive. I am not thankful for that.

Ok, I might have more things I am not thankful for than things I am thankful for. I will stop now, this is depressing me. And the day started out so nice too.

On a more positive note, I am thankful for a beautiful day.

All I’ve been doing with at most a few hours break every few days, last on Sunday so I could go to church. She was back after that. I haven’t even gotten to check out other blogs, that bad. I am so far behind. Least the bills get paid.

One more to add to the list soon as the doc orders it, CPAP. Seems I have sleep apnea. Had a sleep study last week. They hooked me up to lots of wires, belts around my chest to monitor my breathing as well as stuff up my nose. I lasted a couple hours before they put the CPAP on cause I had apnea. Slept well, tech said I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Not quite that fast, but fast. I could have slept longer but test ended at 5AM, way too early for me to be up.

This should be fun! I am claustrophobic. Don’t exactly look forward to it but if it helps me sleep, I’m game.

On the not driving, did well on the eye exam. Something went right. Awaiting word from the MVD as to my fate.

Update: Didn’t have to wait long, got the letters in the mail. MVD said I can’t drive. First suspended then revoked. That bites.

Actually got a pic of Meowza to share. His life is rather dull: eat, sleep, roll in the dirt and get loved. Not much to blog about. He doesn’t fly, lucky him. Unless his leaping at the birds counts. Oh, he still does that.

BKCFoC CB CotC Cat ARK FCF FF MM TT TT WCB WW WoW

Or did not is the case. I failed to blog again. Grandchild does not sleep much and I don’t get much done when she is awake. Busy child cannot be trusted especially with crayons. She likes to color everything except the coloring book. She’s earned a few time outs for her behavior too.

On a brighter note, my sis may visit in the spring which I greatly look forward to. She might not as she will have to endure the TSA. I warned her. What a choice, backscatter x-rays which may be harmful and which reveal naked images to be oogled over by perverted agents or getting groped by said perverted agents. They don’t treat people nicely either way. Hopefully the backlash against such abusive and unconstitutional treatment of Americans will spur Congress to stop the practice. Before she visits. Me, I won’t be flying until it is stopped. It should be noted that that idiot Janet Napolitano has said if you don’t like it, don’t fly. Are they intentionally trying to destroy the airline industry?

Oh wait, don’t answer that. It is the Obama administration we’re dealing with. Can’t blame Bush for that one.

It should be noted that the borders remain unsecured. Government doesn’t care about that.

I’ve really been falling down on the job, sorry. Had a sinus infection which threw me for a loop. That and a doctor who is giving me nothing but grief. She has decided I should not drive cause of the meds that I’m on and have been on for years. So I don’t get to drive. Most likely if she has her way for the rest of my life. I am totally bummed by it all. I feel like a prisoner in my own home, can’t go anywhere without begging for a ride. I don’t like this very much.

On the bright side, if Beck’s prognostications on inflation are anywhere near correct, won’t be able to afford to drive in the near future anyway even if I could.

Got this link in an email today, very interesting videos. I’d already seen Beck’s show yesterday which was enough to scare me. I can only imagine what the rest of the week will hold. DVR the show always. Hyperinflation is coming and it won’t be pretty. Around $25 for a loaf of bread for starters. I’ve thought about what this will do for the cost of my meds. Won’t be able to afford them.

And if you think that’s bad, check out the rather long video on our lost freedoms. If you haven’t heard Beck list them all, well it’s pretty much laid out here. I think it’s time we held our government accountable for it’s unchecked meddling in our lives. I want it to stop thou doubt it will. It will get worse.

They brought up the matter of a national ID for buying and selling anything. Next I’m guessing will be the implanted chip, mark of the beast IMHO. I’ll make do without.

Weirdest lost liberty was putting six year olds on no fly lists. I’d personally take offense if they did that to my grandchild whose behavior even at her worst can hardly be considered an act of terrorism. Aside from the matter of affordability, I don’t know how I could ever fly anywhere without getting arrested for having the wrong item in carryon. It would just be my luck.

They’ve even made it illegal to have a backyard garden, growing food that is. Apparently you’re not supposed to do that.

The government is monitoring our every move. Hope the new crop of Congress critters can change that before it’s too late. If it isn’t already.

Beginning to doubt all my side effects were from the med cause I am still quite sick and I stopped it almost a week ago. I’ll see the doc on Tuesday. Think I might have the flu. Sucks! Spending a lot of time in bed.